Stock pusher



R. E. PIXLER v STOCK PUSHER Dec. 12, 1944.

2 Sheets-Sheei 1 Filed Nov. 20, 1945 Zhmento'r RALPH E PIXLER HIS Cittorneg 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. E. PIXLER STOCK PUSHER Filed NOV. 20, 1943 :mvcmot RALPH PIXLER HIS (mm-neg wk worm m Dec, 12, 1944.

Patented Dec. 12, 1944 UNITED PATENT" OFFICE STOCK PUSHER RialphiEi Pixler, Dayton, Ohio Application'Novemlier 20, 1943', SeriaiNo. 5113005 2 Glaimsz. (Cl. 29--.(i2:)

This invention is a continuation-impart of an application filed by me on.Mar.ch 13, 1943,,Serial' No. 178,992. I

This, invention relates to. improvements, in. lathes orv screw machinesofthe singleor multiple spindle :type ancLmore particularly to themeans for. feeding or pushing. raw stock into, the. colleti or chuck, afterthesame has been. o.pened',.and. againstv the stop,, to. be. worked. upon. by, anyv of the various tools, such as iorm cutters. drills, threading tools,..etc.,. depending. upon. the. type of; work necessary for any particular or specific joh.

Specifically, the invention. is an improvement in the stock pusher, which,.as.is wellknown in the art, is. in the. formof. a. cylindrical; gripper. which usually threaded into a. pusher tube. This pusher tube is. provided with. a collar, or pusher, tube spcoLwhich is. operatedihy the stock feedslide, which in turnis .operatedhy the usual drum cam. and a. Spring, so thatstocliisfed into: position, after the collet. has. been. opened. up. against the stop.

This typeofstock feeding device is. quit'ecommen. in single. andv multiple, spindle; automatic screw machines and also in hand screwmachines, and. it is not. the intention, to limit. the. invention t'aeither. type, as it. is susceptible of use. both in automatic screw. machines having. a variable to he-openedupxhand then they .areagai'n lhardenediand. dnawn. to. the, proper temper. In fact.

These standardpushers are slotted, substantially I halfway downthe length tov form gripping; jaws, and this. slotted end? of. the. pusher. is tempered, so as, to. have the right. amount, of. resiliency or springinesssothat itcan vary slightly according to the variations of the raw stock as. it. is. forced through the pusher on the initial loading. Then, when it is time for the-stock to-be-fed, the pusher is drawn back over the. stock, after which it; is moved forward, and,,on. this forward movement, the jaws. ofthe, pusher grip the. stock. andiee'd itintothe, open colletagainst the. stop..

As. the pusher is drawn .back overv the stock prior to. feeding the stock, if the stock. has. unp even places on. it, W'hich-. is often theL case, or if the. raw stock happens to he of slightly larger: diameter. in spots, considerable strain is placed on. the. jaws. of? the pusher, and the pusher often cracksnear the bottom. of the slotwhichiorms annealtechandlreslotted (0L.rather, the.s1ot has the wear and breakage. on these .pushers; become a, very. expensive item of 'imaintenance.

It is,, thereore;, an. ohj'ectloi this invention to. provideastock pusher, designed to eliminate the breakage anctwear abovementionedh -It,.is avfurther. objector" thisjinventionto pro:- vide a novelst'ock pusher which can he usedin lathes of various types, automatic screw ma' chines, and hand: screwcmachines; and which is so. designed. that enlarged. sections. or unevenness of. the. raw. stockiarepreadi'ly compensated for by the. proyision .oiislidahle. stock pusher ,i'aws or. grippers;

Another object of the inventionjsto provide anoyel stockpusher withadiustable. andlremovahl'e. pusher jaws or grippers:

Another. object of. this invention. is to provide. ahoyelis'tock pusher, for lathes. or. screw ma.- ch'ines, with sprin rnressedt removable jaws.

A. still further object. of this invention is the provision of a. novel. st'cckpusher for screw ma.- chines, so constructed asztoreduce wear. to a minimum and to prevent breakage.

A fiurther. object. of, this invention ist'he provision of 'anovelstocliipusher so constructedithat only, acomparatiVelyvery smaliportion" thereof needijbe made from high-grade; expensive steel, thus reducing the cost of'the article itself and. the. machine maintenance cost; m

Another object of this invention isthe provision ofa: novel stockpusher adapted to'receive stock"p isher jaws or: grippers of variable sizes, whereby raw stock of different" diameters may be fe'dinto position in lathesand' screw machines without the. necessity of providing a; complete stock pusherifor each different size of raw stock; as i'snovv necessary in machineson themarket.

A further object of'this invention is the pro;- vi'si'on oi anovei'st'ock pusher havingaxretaining deviceiornsai'dijaws.arrangedto headjjiste'd and locked in such adiust'ed. position andibeing constructedite prevent; any ndency of t'hepusher from spreading, at. the. endlthereoff due. to pressure; ofithe' wedging: ofthe. jaws.

Aiurther object: is. to. pro-yidea. retainer cap for. the, jaws, having. perforations; .thereinfor the releaseofslud'geandlother foreign elements which collectlat the. end or the. jaws. during the con? tinuous operation Qithe pushen.

With. these. and. incidental; objects: in. VIEW, the invention. consists. of certain. novel. features of constructionand combinations: oijpart's, the; es sential elements of which. are. 'setfliorth. in appended claims and a preferred form and a mod ified form of embodiment of which are hereinafter described with reference to the drawings which accompany and form a part of this specification.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is an assembled general view of the novel stock pusher, showing a portion of a piece of raw stock therein, a fragmentary section of a stock pusher tube being shown in dot-and-dash lines.

Fig. 2 is a section through the center of the stock pusher and shows, by dot-and-dash lines, I

a piece of stock.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 shows a plan view of a pair of the pusher jaws or grippers.

Fig. 5 is an edge view of said pusher jaws. Figs. 6 and 7 disclose a modified form of the invention, Fig. 6 being an end view and Fig. 7

being a fragmentarysectional. view through the center of the modified form of stock pusher.

Fig. 8 shows, in reducedscale, one spindle'and the novel stock pusher in position in the machine, relative to the chuck which holds the raw stock while it isbeing worked on, and also shows the operating means for the chuck and the stock pusher.

General description Described in general terms, this invention includes a novel stock pusher for lathes, automatic This screw machines, or hand screw machines.

pusher is designed to fit into the standard pusher The inside These spring-pressed pusher jaws eliminate breakage of the 'pushers as the pusher is'moved back on the stock prior to gripping the stock,

because, if there are any inaccuracies, such as larger diameter sections of the stock or little bumps or ridges on the stock, which often occur, as the pusher is moved back on the stock, the pusher jaws will compress the spring and slide outwardly on the tapered section or surface of the pusher and slide over these irregular seca tions of the stock, thus, as above stated, preven ing excessive wear and, in many cases, breakage of the pusher. Then, as the pusher is moved forj, ward, the pusher jaws tend to move toward the smaller end of the taper and firmly grip the stock, so that there will be no slippage, with the stock, with the consequent result that the stockv would not always be pushed all the way up to pusher is moved back on the stock, there is not raw stock which is being used and worked upon.

in the machine. v

These pusher jaws may be made with variable inside diameters, all having the same tapered 7 outside diameters, so that they are interchangeable and thus provide an inexpensive means of fitting the stock pusher to handle or feed stock of various diameters at a much lesser expense than can be done withthe pushers now on the market. 1 The screw cap retainer for the jaws also aids in maintaining the end of the pusher in its normal position; that is, the cap, being threaded on jaw surfaces when the jaws are forced towards their gripping position when the pusher is moved in a tock feeding direction. This construction also causes the jaws to always firmly grip the stock, whereas, if the jaw retainer were in the l the outside of the end of the pusher, prevents any 3 spreading or flaring of this end of the pusher: due to the outward pressure against the tapered form of a plugthat is, if threaded on the inside 7 In the past, with the use of the old type ofv pusher, the pusher would sometimes slip on the the stop, and the manufactured part would therefore be too short and would hav to be thrown away, as it would not pass inspection.

In the standard lathes or screw machines, this stock pusher, as has been stated above, is mounted in a pusher tube, which has secured to it a pusher spool, which is acted upon by a stock feed slide, which in turn is driven by a drum cam. In the present machines, this stock feed slide, which also is an expensive part of a machine to replace, becomes worn on excessive amount in a comparatively very short time, due to the fact that, with the. old type of pusher, when the enough resiliency inthe jaws thereof, and consequently a great deal of friction has to be overcome by the stock feed slide as it pushes against the spool to move the pusher tube of the stock pusher back on the stock prior to feeding the stock forward.

With the present invention, this friction is reduced to a negligible amount because of the novel construction of the pusher tube. In other words, when the pusher tube is moved back on the stock by the stock feed slide, the pusher jaws or grippers will compress the spring under the cap, thus eliminating any drag or friction between the pusher jaws and the stock, and consequently the stock feed slide, having less. work to do and no friction or drag to overcome, will have a considerably longer life, due to the lesser amount of wear on the same by the spool on the stock pusher.

Detailed description In Fig. 1 isshown an'assembled view of the stock pusher, in Fig. 2 is shown a section through the center of the stock pusher, and in Fig. 8 the stock pusher is shown assembled in the machine. The pusher consists of a sleeve 20 having a tapered section 2| to receive a pair of pusher jaws or grippers 22 held in contact with the tapered section by a compression spring 23, compressed against a washer 24 which is held against the top surface of the jaws 22. A retaining screw cap 25-, which screws onto a threaded section 26 of the sleeve 20, holds the jaws 22, the washer 24,

and the spring 23 in proper relations to each other and to the tapered section 2| at all times. This cap 25 is provided with a hole 21 sufficiently large cgseegeie for a piece of'stock 28 topass through; The jaws'2-2 are ground with a taper-to fit thetapered section 21 of' the sleeve 20 t'o insure-proper grippingofthestock to feed the-same.

A spanner wrench hole 29' is provided in the cap'25, and a spanner wrench hole 30 1s provided in the sleeve 2 so that the sleeve 20- may be tightly screwed onto the tube A" locking collar 41' isscrewed onto the; threaded section" 26- of the sleeve 20 and may be adjusted intovariousp'ositions on the threaded section 26- of the sleeve 29' to vary thetension of; the spring 23 and thereby vary the grippingaction ofthe jaws 22 and also prevent any noticeable lagging of the jaws when they are released from the stockbar whenthe sleeve 20- is moved to the right preparatory to'feeding-the-stock. Holes '48 are provided for holding the collar by a wrench or other tool when tightening thecollar 25 against it.

The cap is also Provided with perforations 31' (Figs. 1 and 3) so that dirt and anysmall chips which may be scraped off of the stock'can be thrown out of these slots by centrifugal 'force while the machine is inoperation. These-perforations 31 maybe in the form of slotsy as shown', or they maybe in the form ofa series of drilled holes around the cap 25. By-their presence; foreign elements are eliminated from the inside of the pusher and'therefore do not have anyten'd ency' to clog in the spring 23' and prevent its normal functioning, which may occur-if such foreign matter was not eliminated through theper: forations 3|. I

The inside diameter (designated 33) of the pusher jaws is made to conform with the size of'stock to be used for any particular job.

These pusher jaws 22 may also be made with smaller or larger diameter sections 33; and; as they are readily interchangeable, one pusher sleeeve 20 may accommodate manydifferent sizes of" pusher jaws and thus handlejor feed many different sizes of stock, designated as 28'.

Due to the construction of the jaws 22* and thesleeve 20, the stock 28-is always fedupagain'st the stock stop, thus eliminating the manufacture of short pieces which will not pass inspection and necessarily haveto bescrapped'.

Theright end of the sleeve' 20 (Figs. land 2) is provided with threads 32 of a' standardsize,

so that the pusher sleeve 2'0may be'screwed into a standard lathe or screw machine pusher tube 34, shown in Fig. 8, and in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 1.

The right end of the pusher tube 34 (as viewed in Fig. 8) carries a pusher tube spool 35, which cooperates with the side of a feed ring 36 carried by a stock feed slide 31, which slides on a pair of rods 38 and 39 mounted in frames 40 and 4| secured to a base 42 of the lathe or screw machine.

A block 43 is carried by the stock feed slide 31, to cooperate with the pusher tube spool 35 to move said spool 35 and tube 34 under the influence of a spring 44 surrounding a rod 45 and held thereon by a cap 46. The rod 45 is carried by the frames 40 and 4] and projects through an opening in the slide 31, and the end of the spring 44 bears against the side of the slide 31.

The slide 3'! carries a roller 50 cooperating with a stock feed cam carried by the usual drum 52 rotatably driven in the usual well-known manner (not shown). A shaft 53 supports the drum 52.

The raw stock 28 is initially hand-inserted tween-the feed jaws- 22 and into anhuck or -oollt- 60; which is screwed into oneendof a collet tube 6!" surrounding the pushersleeve 2112 Thecollt tube 6 lis-inside aspindle- 62. 'I 'het'ube 31; the. colletfill, and the-spindle 62 are rotatably-driven in the usual mannerby means not-"shown; Se

65 with which cooperates afingerholder 66' hav ing fingers 67' cooperating with atapered end of a chuck-operating spool 63- may mounted on-the spindle'62.

Cooperating with-the chuck-operating Spoor-B9 isa lug 'Hlof a chuck -operating-slide 1|-slidablymounted on the rods 38' and 3 9s The slide T-t carries a roller 12 to cooperate with a chuckopening cam 13 and a' chuck-closing cam T4, both of which are secured toand" are operat'e'dbyi the drum 522 1 After a-finishedarticle (not shown) has-been After the pusher sleeve 26 is in such position and so held by a dwell 15 on the cam the chuck-opening cam 13, through the slide Hi, moves the-spoolfill tothe'lefh whereup'om springs 16" (only one shown)= rOcktherlefti ends: of the fingers 6 toward the center ofthe spindle due tothe taper'endBB ofthespoolufifi; andfthe finger holder disk 65', the collet tube 5 Hi, andathez collet or chuck 60" are moved: slightly to the: leftand the chuck 60 is thus: sprung open: enoughiz-t'o permit free movement of the rawxstock there!- through.

The chuck Gilis held: open bya dwell 11 on. the cam 13 until asection 18; of .the cam 51 presents itself to the roller 50,.whereupon the spring: 44

moves; the slide 31' to the: left, back to the 130811? tion shown. When this: occurs, the; bloclc :43 moves thepusher spoo1'.35 ,.the tube'34 andzthepusher sleeve. 20' to the left (-tothe' position shown), duringwhich movementzthe pusherrjaws 2 2; firmly grip. the stock 28- and feedi it; up; against a stop 19,. whichvhas been:.moved: up in stopping position.

After such movement of the stock 28 by the pusher jaws 22, the chuck-closing cam 14 contacts the roll 12 and moves the slide 'H to the right (to the position shown), thus causing the taper end 68 of the spool 69 to rock the fingers 61 to normal positions (here shown), whereupon they move the disk 65, the collet tube BI, and the collet or chuck 60 to the right (to the positions shown), whereby the chuck firmly grips the stock 28 to turn the latter so that it can be worked upon by various tools (not shown) to manufacture any desired article.

Modified form (fromthe-rightend a's viewed in Figa 'w through the pushes-tube 3'4 and the sleeve 24; then bee tion of the adjustable locking collar 41 in the manner above described, to vary the pressure of the jaws in the taper section 2|. 7 The only difference between the modified'form and the preferred from is the provision of the plurality of compression springs 8| instead of the single compression spring 23.

7 When the sleeve is moved back on the stock prior to the feeding of the stock, the jaws 22, if they encounter any, enlarged portions of the stock, will be moved to the left, thus moving the washer 24 to the left and compressing the springs 8| to eliminate friction in exactly the same manner and for the same purposes as described above in connection with the preferred form of the invention.

When the sleeve 20 is moved to the left, as viewed in Fig. 7, to feed the stock through the opened collet 68 against the stop 19, the jaws 22 tend to move toward the smaller end of the tapered section 2|, and consequently they firmly grip the stock so that it is fed the proper dis- 3 tance, whereby it always reaches the stop. 19, short which prevents the manufacture of pieces, thus eliminating waste.

While the forms of the invention herein shown and described are admirably adapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the forms or embodiments shown, for it is susceptible of embodiment in Various other which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a hollow cylindrical member having one end attached to a reciprocatory means and having an outside threaded section on the other end; a tapered internal surface on said member extending inwardly from said other end of 'said member; a plurality of devices having tapered outer walls to cooperate with said tapered surfaces, to grip and feed raw stock when said means is moved in one direction and to slide over 40 forms all coming within the scope of the claims member when said-devices are forced against the.

tapered surface thereof during feeding movement of the cylindrical member, said retaining member havin perforations in the side thereof so that foreign elements which gather in the retaining member during operations of the cylindrical member may be emitted therefrom during such operations. 7

-2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a hollow cylindrical member having one endattached to a reciprocatory means and having an outside threaded section on the other end; a tapered internal surface on said member extending inwardly from said other nd of said member; a plurality of devices having tapered outer. walls to cooperate with said tapered surfaces, to grip and feedraw stock when said means is moved in one direction and to slide over the raw stock when said means is moved in another direction; a pressure collar adjacent the large ends of said devices; resilient means cooperating with said collar; a retainingmember hollowed out to house said collar and resilient means and having internal threads to hold said retaining member on said other end of the cylin-' drical member .to maintain pressure of said collar' adjacent said devices and prevent spreading of the tapered end of said cylindrical member when said devices are forced against the tapered surface thereof during feeding movement of the cylindrical member, said retaining member having perforations in the side thereof so that foreign elements which gather in the retaining member during operations of the cylindrical member may be emitted therefrom during such operations; and an adjustable locking member threaded on said other end of the cylindrical member ahead of said retaining member to act I as an adjustable stop and lock for said retaining member to vary the pressure of the resilient meansagainst the pressure collar.

. RALPH E. PIXLER. 

